05-12-2010, 12:21 PM

Ok, so I have a MacBook Pro 3,1 and the DVD drive no longer works. I need to get AutoCAD installed on my MacBook, which means I need to get Bootcamp on, and get Windows installed. So my question is this, Can I Install Windows and then the windows drivers drom my MAC OS X disk via an external USB DVD drive? And if so, how easy/difficult is it keeping in mind that I am a total newbie to all things MAC having crossed over very recently from a Microsoft based PC? ANy help much appreciated.

05-12-2010, 01:24 PM

Note: Moved to appropriate forum.

You can not install Windows via Boot Camp using an external DVD drive because the proper drivers aren't in place until after the installation of Windows is finished. (The external drive will not be seen.)

You may be able to use virtual software instead: Parallels, VMWare Fusion, VirtualBox. However, I do not know how well AutoCad would run in a virtual machine versus native Windows.

Regards.

05-13-2010, 12:05 PM

Thanks for that reply. I installed Parallel, and then windows XP, and then my windows software, such as AutoCAD, sketchup, Vray, podium and they all work fine now on the MAC. I actually installed Windows from an ISO file on an external HDD since my DVD drive is broken. ALl seems to have worked well.